Dishonored illustrates everything that's wrong with the gaming 'critics' industry.

[Fflarn]

It has been a problem for a long time now that our source of game information doesn't work well (back to the days of Black & White, if anyone remembers that game). It seems like every major game to be released gets high scores and rave reviews. This means we have no credible source for buying games and the industry fails in it's role, unless that role is strictly advertising. So buying games becomes a gamble, you may get a truely entertaining game to enjoy (like Borderlands 2) or you may get a game that leaves you feeling disappionted and lied to, like this one.

As such, I tend to take the reviews with a grain of salt, but here with Dishonored, I have to admit, they got me again. This is a 60 dollar game, and here is what you get; an incredibly short game: my first play through was not rushed, and it still finished in less than 19 hours. On top of that, it has an enourmously low replay value, you would just be replaying to get different levels of killing achievments and different subpar ending sequences.

The game is also incredibly easy with just the blink spell; if you actually use the other spells, you quickly feel like a giant stepping on insects. It's full of pointless fluff, like the heart which reveals 'secrets' about the person you are targeting, which is mostly stock sayings for their role (servant, aristocrat, etc) and a few for each person... but you can't do anything with that information. In fact your ability to interact with anyone beyond killing them or knocking them out is shockingly low.

This would be a solid game at 19.99-29.99. At 59.99 it's a travesty, and honest critics should have been blowing the whistle that it's not worth the price tag; not giving it 9+ ratings on a scale of 10.

[45]

引用自 Rockhead Gaz：

A knock of of Thief? While it's clear that Dishonored was definitely inspired (that's right, inspired) by the Thief series, it's no more a knock off of it than Half-Life is of Doom or Deus Ex is of System Shock. It stands up well in its own right. Besides, if a dev is going to "knock off" (or be inspired by) something, it might as well "knock off" (be inspired by) the best.

And level design and concept art does not equate to a whole game. I saw flashes of Half-Life 2 in the games artistic design, moreso than I saw of BioShock 2. Gameplay wise, it's not comparable to BioShock, so any preference of one over the other is purely personal. I much prefered Dishonored, mostly because it put me in mind of Thief, and games like that are a rarity. As someone else mentioned, BioShock promised an experience akin to System Shock, and for me, didn't really deliver (I still love BioShock, though).

As for the games length, I'd rather pay £30 (I'm in the UK) for 10 hours (it actually took me about 16 hours my first time through) of Dishonored than 40 or 50 hours of Dragon Age II, for example. It's about the quality of the product, and quantity does not always equal quality.

It is like bioshock, but that's not a bad thing. Bioshock was a good game...

[Rockhead Gaz]

@Santa 45
That's very true, and any comparison to BioShock could only be seen as favourable, but I actually feel that Dishonored takes the best elements of BioShock, Thief and Deus Ex (amongst others), and creates a gameplay experience which is quite unique, or at least very rare. Not always better than those games, but not always worse either.

[45]

引用自 Rockhead Gaz：

@Santa 45
That's very true, and any comparison to BioShock could only be seen as favourable, but I actually feel that Dishonored takes the best elements of BioShock, Thief and Deus Ex (amongst others), and creates a gameplay experience which is quite unique, or at least very rare. Not always better than those games, but not always worse either.

This
It's very unique, you couldn't do anything like this in those games.

The game rewards creativity and has alot of replay value because of it.

I do have some problem with the limited choices for non-leathal combat. They could've had more weapons for such a play style because as it stands litterally the only weapon that doesn't kill people is the sleep dart. A smoke bomb would've been nice. something to obscure lines of sight or temporarily incapacitate enemies while they rub their eyes and cough in the smoke. If I thought of that by the way I'm pretty sure they could've made something better and probably will if that sequel becomes a reality. There just doesn't seem to be much thought put into that. How come when I drop on people they just ragdoll then get right back up? This could've been like a drop assassination except harder to execute by requiring you to be on the mark with your drop. Much like the strangle requires more skill than the normal stab execution by requiring you to be behind your enemy.

The powers are well divided for leathal/non-leathal approaches though most of which having uses in both departments. Almost everything can be used stealthily or non-stealth so that's not a problem. Just felt a bit limited when I went for the good ending the first time and only really had strangle and sleep darts.

[Rockhead Gaz]

Man, I actually hadn't noticed how limited the non-lethal combat actually was until now. Agreed, though, more variety for that playstyle would be welcome. To be honest, I tend to play non-lethally as much as possible, but tend to favour sneaking past enemies rather than physical confrontation. I guess if I had more tools at my disposal, I might go for non-lethal takedowns though. I still like the fact though, as you said, that the game rewards, rather than punishes creativity. So if you're playing it stealth-like, and screw something up, you always have the option to just go kill crazy, and in some pretty inventive ways, too. I think that's one area where Dishonored surpasses Thief. In Thief, if you made a mistake and got spotted, chances are you were about to die (not always, but mostly). Mind you, I think that was a deliberate design choice for Thief, so not knocking that too much.

[45]

It became very apperent on my second run when I was whoring for achievements and did:
No supernatural powers or enhancements other than blink 1
No being spotted
No kills

And all I had was the sleep dart, the strangle and simply avoiding guards all together. Still wasn't that hard but it was just un-engaging.

[Toocs ( Bobby Bottle Service )]

Video game critics are like economists. Pay them a 10/10 wage to criticize their game they will give the game a 10/10 blow your mind better than any game on the market review. Enough said.

[erthwjim]

Just adding on here, there was a sale on Thanksgiving week for this game as I indicated in my earlier comment that there probably would be, I believe it was 50% off. And I'm going to guess, there will be another one coming up as X-mas approaches. Patience is everything if you want to save money, early adapters generally end up paying more for games, hardware, electronics, etc...

[DCB]

God, I thought everybody like this game just before. For me, I paid 29.9 to enjoy its awesome first-person climb and beautiful art style, and I'll play several round under different limitation.

I'm sorry you paid up to 59.9.

[Wobb the Great and Terrible!!!!!]

Yes, reviews are generally stupid. But to say that 19+ hours for a singleplayer campaign is short is ridiculous.
Let's just say you spend $60/£30 (I live in UK, it's £30 or so, but I got it half price in a sale, I am not stupid) on a game, and compare it to going out to the cinema, or to a pub/club. So, let's round it up to 20 hours. 20 hours for $60 = ? Go on.... $3 per hour. How much would you spend in a club in an hour? How much does the cinema cost for just 2 hours? I would say you could spend $10 an hour in a club. You could easily spend £10 in a club in the UK in an hour. That means just 3 hours in a club to equal as much entertainment in terms of time as with this game. And I wouldn't enjoy being in a club full of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nearly as much, so the QUALITY of that time is also less in the club. The cinema is worse because I will compare it to my last 3 trips to the cinema, and all 3 movies sucked ass, the last being the latest batman abortion. And that cost me £10, counting in fuel for the car to travel there, but not counting money for snacks as I don't do that because, again, I am not stupid.
So, let's compare shall we?
$60/£30 for a game for 20 hours
£10 for a cinema trip for 2 hours
£60 at least for a night out, lasting around 8 hours in a club
Sorry, I don't know how much a night out at the cinema or a club costs in the US, so can't comment.
Then let's compare the QUALITY of that time;
20 hours in dishonored, pretty much every minute being very enjoyable, and most minutes being just about the most fun you can have in a videogame.
2 hours in a cinema watching a movie that either just angers you that you spent any money at all, puts you to sleep it is so boring (basically you are paying to sleep, which you can do at home for free), or on a rare occasion it is just about as entertaining as dishonored, but still costs twice as much when you consider the time spent enjoying it.
8 hours in a club, MAYBE half of that time isn't spent just wanting everyone in the club to die because they are just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and STILL way more expensive per hour than a good videogame lasting 20 hours even if you DO enjoy it.
So how are you complaining?
Seems to me you are complaining about game reviews, and choosing any game with a high score to complain about. If all you can complain about here is that it was only 20 hours, then it's time to stop complaining.
Did you play Xcom? How long did that last? It lasted me around the same time, and I thought it was a decent length. Was it also too short for you?
How long SHOULD a singleplayer game be? Remembering that half life 2 was less than 15 hours and the same price as dishonored but you probably raved about it, and have always said it wasn't too short at all.
Get a grip, and think before you post, you just sound like someone who will hate everything that the reviews like just because you don't like the review system.
How about you read the reviews how I do? Don't even look at the score, just read the text and take your own interpretation of what the reviewer is saying is good/bad about the game. You might find you can work out your own score from that, and it could end up differing quite wildly to their score. You will definitely get a better idea about whether the game is any good for you, and they generally give a rough indication of how long a game is
But honestly if 20 hours isn't long enough for you for a singleplayer only game, then you should never ever ever buy another singleplayer only game, because none of them last longer than that unless they are large scale RPG's.
Just stop complaining about stupid things is my best advice

[45]

well a beer at a bar can be anywhere from 5-10 bucks cause they're overpriced as ♥♥♥♥. a movie ticket is like 12 bucks+popcorn and a soda (I do normally get these and sometimes one box of candy for 2-3 people) so yea a night at the movies alone is like 20-24 bucks... and some time at a bar? it's ridiculous.

comparatively this game was deffinitely worth it even at full price.

[Rockhead Gaz]

Yep, I've touted this argument for years. You tend to get more value for money on a per-hour basis, even on a relatively short game like Dishonored, than you do when you go to the cinema, or out for a few beers. But, again, I would rather pay £30 for a great, short game, than a sucky long game.

For this reason, I think Dishonored was worth the price. It's a triple A title, and triple A titles go for £30-£40, Bethersda and Arkane haven't set this trend, it's a blanket trend across the industry. And you can't really blame them for following that trend.

[swenor]

引用自 Fflarn：

It has been a problem for a long time now that our source of game information doesn't work well ...
This would be a solid game at 19.99-29.99. At 59.99 it's a travesty, and honest critics should have been blowing the whistle that it's not worth the price tag; not giving it 9+ ratings on a scale of 10.

I am referring to the whole post.
1) If game is solid then it is solid - no doubt about it. If it costs 1 euro, 50 or 5000 euros. It is solid all the time. The price is the problem and not the quality of the game.
2) Noone forced you to buy the game. Wait as I do. I am a sale hunter and I save a lot of money.
3) Games are business nowadays. This is BIG MONEY. It is no longer hobby for a group of passionates. Games are directed at mass customer.
4) As always CAVEAT EMPTOR
I do understand your disappointment, but you should make torough research before purchase. I always do.

[Ferco]

I'm 25 hours into the game and I'm still at High Overseer Campbell mission trying to figure out how to get into a sealed room in the distillery that has a rewire kit and some elixir.

I'm not sure how I managed it this slow but I am going for the no detection no kill route, which I think will be Ghost, Shadow and Clean Hands.

What saddens me, however, is the lack of high quality textures even for PC and no DirectX 11 content. Why the 7 year old technology? :(

[45]

I'm sorry what? You've either altered your achievements or idled on the game. There's no way that is possible.

[45]

The first time I played I beat it in 6.5 hours got pretty much every side mission killed 19 guards total, spotted 8 times. Non-leathaled everyone except lady boyle because I didn't walk into the guy the first time. The game is short I won't lie about that. However, it's still genuinely fun and I've played it 6 times.